Although there are now over 1 million users on the site, there are still those unfamiliar with Patreon. The premise is simple enough; it’s a Kickstarter format on a monthly basis. Creators have a few ways to handle payment, but the most popular is in small donations every month. These can be discontinued at a patron’s behest at any time. Also, unlike Kickstarter, the return is generally much, much faster. This is because the projects are usually ongoing or released in stages, allowing patrons to enjoy what they are paying a monthly fee for, and seeing as how the most commonly paid amount is $1-$3, this is a pretty good return.

The reason this is so interesting for the gaming community is it circumvents much of the frustration donators have felt with other services. Some games have taken 2-5 years to launch, or they never even get that far. For donators that have invested hundreds or thousands of dollars, this can be a frustrating process. But Patreon offers a monthly choice to jump ship. If the project keeps stalling out, a patron can simply stop donating, and the costs are so low, that usually it will only be a few dollars spent on the project.

This also ties into a direction games have been leaning anyway. Telltale games was one of the first major developers to look at this model, and their games are often released episodically for small fees and then bundled together at the end of development. This has worked amazingly for their development pipeline as well as matching user expectation.

Granted, an episodic structure only works for certain games and styles. Telltale games fit this niche, so do games with uncomplicated engines like RPGs. Those games that need years just to develop a combat system will probably stick with the larger platforms, but it gives a very viable option for smaller games focused around concept or story.

Right now, Patreon is mostly for mods and small apps, but all it takes is the first major success for this platform to take off. We will be waiting for the day that happens.